Lovin’ and Listenin’
Friday, May 12
Best New Bands Showcase: Copy, Tractor Operator, Swan Island
Berbati’s Pan, 9:30 p.m., free, 21+
Willamette Week had the nerve to call Swan Island femme-metal. I challenge anyone to listen to one of their songs on their MySpace page and explain to me where exactly metal comes into the picture. New-wave guitars? Check. Big female vocals? Check. But metal? Nah, I just don’t hear it. Copy plays electronic music melodic enough that it will sooner or later find its way into a car commercial.
Glass Candy, Chromatics
Dunes, 10 p.m., cover, 21+
Glass Candy has been a buzz band for a while now, and yet nothing has really come from it. Why? Because they play No Wave, which, with the exception of noise music, is one of the most irritating musical genres ever to grace God’s earth. For those who aren’t familiar with the genre, just imagine punk-rock bands like the Buzzcocks or the Sex Pistols if those bands abandoned every trait associated with pop music (melody, hooks, a steady beat). No Wave is the sound of the patients running the asylum, which is only going to appeal to an extremely select audience, i.e., music nerds and record reviewers.
Saturday, May 13
Cloud Cult, Ape Shape, Bright Red Paper
Doug Fir, 9 p.m., $7, 21+
According to their MySpace page, Cloud Cult’s latest album debuted at number three on the college radio (I’m assuming CMJ) charts, just under Coldplay and The White Stripes. Apparently the band’s hardcore environmental politics (they tour in a solar-powered van) and indie pop have garnered them a jam band-esque following. And while stopping the destruction of our environment is important, more important is wiping the earth of any trace of jam bands, jam band-esque audiences and anything remotely related to the virus that is jam bands.
Sunday, May 14
Black Eyed Peas, Pussycat Dolls
Rose Garden, 7 p.m., $35, all ages
Instead of being all hipster-snarky about these two groups, I’m going to admit that, however mindless and irritating, their singles are extremely well crafted. Pop groups live and die on the strength of their singles, so if you don’t get “My Humps” or “Don’t Chu” stuck in your head, someone hasn’t done their job correctly. And it’s quite likely if you hear either of those songs 10 years from now, you’ll feel a faint pang of nostalgia for the days when radio pop was only slightly awful.
